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44 WINES&VINES December 2017 UNIFIED PREVIEW N early everyone in California's North Coast winegrowing region was af- fected in some way by the firestorm ignited Oct. 8. Lise Asimont, director of grower relations for Francis Ford Coppola Winery, was no exception. Four grapegrowers who sell fruit to Coppola were in the fire zone and had fruit still hanging on the vines at the time of the fires. "At one vineyard, it burned right up to the acreage. It was at the gates, if you will," Asimont told Wines & Vines. "We couldn't get to them, and it was so frustrating and scary." Asimont said the growers in that case were eventually allowed back into the vineyard, where they were able to harvest the rest of the crop, which Coppola gladly accepted. Similar situa- tions played out differently across the region, however, with some wineries refusing grapes and others having no winery at which to crush fruit, either due to fire damage or road closures. The situation prompted Asimont, who also serves as program development chair for the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, and other committee members to reconsider the schedule for the annual event taking place Jan. 23-25, 2018—quite a feat consid- ering harvest was still in progress and some members of the program development com- mittee were under evacuation. Come January, Unified attendees will have the option of attending two breakout sessions developed in response to the wildfires: one about disaster preparedness and recovery geared toward business and operations profes- sionals, and another titled "Wildfires and Wine: Loss Prevention, Mitigation and Management," which is part of the winemaking track. Be ready: disaster preparedness and recovery The business and operations session about disaster preparedness is scheduled for Jan. 25 at 1:15 p.m. Asimont said the experience of living through the firestorm made it clear how important it is to be prepared for any kind of disaster, whether it be flood, fire, earthquake or hailstorm. Insurance experts who spoke with Wines & Vines in the days after the fires began stressed the importance of having copies of insurance policies and providing agents and appraisers with up-to-date contact information in case of displacement. The winemaking session related to the wild- fires will be the final breakout session of the symposium, taking place Jan. 25 at 2:30 p.m. Tom Collins and Jim Harbertson from Washing- ton State University are developing the session. Collins already has started collecting samples of wine made from grapes subjected to fire or smoke as part of his ongoing research, for which he created hoop houses in 2016 and exposed fruit to smoke in that controlled environment. King of vinifera In past years, the symposium has used its joint grapegrowing and winemaking session to un- cover regional differences of Sauvignon Blanc, harvesting decisions and extraction for rosé wines as well as cashing in on the growing segments of low-alcohol and blended wines. This January, the focus will turn to the king of vinifera: Cabernet Sauvignon. (Read more about this varietal on page 31.) According to Asimont, the Program Development Commit- tee looked beyond California while creating this session, inviting speakers from multiple KEY POINTS The Program Development Committee added two sessions to address the North- ern California firestorm at the annual Uni- fied Wine & Grape Symposium in January. Developing Cabernet Sauvignon at a vari- ety of price points is the topic of the joint grapegrowing and winemaking session. Winemaker Gina Gallo will give the fifth an- nual keynote address to open the event. Cabernet Meets Fire in Sacramento Unified Wine & Grape Symposium singles out current popular topics for the industry By Kate Lavin Mike Veseth will once again moderate the State of the Industry session at the Unified Symposium.